Renegades (Unedited)

2 (Unedited)

When 0600 finally hit and Matt and I made our way back down to the base floor of the unit almost everyone was awake. People of various shapes, sizes, and colors were all gathered around and eating stale carbs and days-old vegetables. A lovely sight when those in the city are sitting around eating fresh pastries and drinking hot coffee. The lucky bastards would last no more than a day in these conditions.

Of course the first two to notice us as we came down the stairs were two of our closest friends, Shane and Mavis. Only a few years older than me, Mavis was the first one to acknowledge us when we came here. Shane, who was dating Mavis at the time, then became friends with us as well. Since then, the two of them got 'married' and we've still stayed friends.

As usual, Mavis was sitting in front of Shane leaning back on him with her head on his lap. Once she saw us, she sat up and greeted us.

"Hey you two! I was wondering whether you were gonna come down on time. And happy 19th little miss! You're just about old enough to get married now." She said, winking in my direction. She stood up, short blonde hair bouncing. Interestingly enough, she still had two sections on each side of her head dyed a faded blue color that were longer than the rest of her hair. After a very successful raid we managed to get away with a bit of hair dye. She was the most excited to have it, so we let her use all of it. That was about four months ago, and since she hasn't cut the blue parts.

Shane gave me a polite smile, then redirected his focus to Matt. I don't know what it was, but those two together never seemed like a good idea. I turned back to Mavis, who was now standing in front of me. She was pretty; olive skin, pale eyes, toned. Like almost everyone else here she was taller than me. And damn I wish I had her legs.

The glint of the Hereditary Tag around her neck caught my eye. On it, instead of her own name, was Shane's full name and birthdate. Another strange tradition we had to twist to make it work. While most got a copy of their partner's tag, we couldn't dare ask for a marital tag. So, when anyone got married, they switched tags with each other. It was old, of course, but it obviously meant the world to her. The last time anyone tried to get near it, she screamed in their face and punched them in the liver.

"So, anything you're going to bring up at the meet?" She asked, lowering her voice a little. I looked behind me, noticing Shane and Matt fake punching each other. I don't know why, but I never liked talking about raids with Matt listening. He wasn't able to go on them, and it just felt wrong to discuss them with him around.

"I think I'll hold off. We've got quite a bit of glucose left...if anything I'd say we get more cleaning cloths or even a new injector..." I replied.

Unfortunately, Matt was what used to be known as a Type 1 Diabetic. Completely treatable now, but it cost a predetermined 10 points per age gap. For our entire lives, we are divided into age groups. These age groups have certain amounts of 'points' they're awarded. These are to be spent on medical procedures and needs. In an attempt to control the population, the rulers of the few standing countries decided to go back to Darwinism: Survival of the Fittest. Those who needed more than 25 points per age range after the age of 8 were to be left to die. They weren't fit for survival, therefore not worth wasting supplies on. Matt should be dead. But he's not. His alias was to cover that. If his real identity got out, there'd be a bounty on his corpse. That's why we go out and raid the closest hospitals: glucose, injectors, cleaning cloths, etc.

Another upside to being exiled: there was no system of points to worry about. No keeping track of how much you had left to use before they threw you to the wilderness.

"Alright good, good point. Hey, can I talk to you about something in private?" She asked, doing the suspicious 'God I hope no one sees us' look around. I did the same.